Top Six ToonWith a top six place and Europa League entry assured for next season, Newcastle United head into the last game knowing that mathematically we could still play in the Champions league if results go our way on the final day. So continuing with the “Top Six” theme – what are the top six things we have learned or had re-affirmed this season as fans of Newcastle United? I’ve set out my ideas below and would welcome your own views on this!
One – Mike Ashley Is Not Out To Ruin The Club – this allegation was one that was prevalent when Ashley and Co carried out a summer sale, flogging off our more expensive players on high wages who were reckoned to also be our “better” players. The term “asset-stripping” was freely bandied about by fans. As we now know, those players were replaced with younger, cheaper imports and the overall quality of the team has improved as a result. Would anyone care to go back and swap Cabaye for Barton or Tiote for Nolan? Me neither!
Two – Alan Pardew Is A Good Manager – When Pards was drafted in to take over from the popular Chris Hughton, it has to be said it didn’t go down well with fans. Pardew had two main targets. Not only did he have to win over those fans, but he also had to fulfill his brief from the owner to “take the club to a top 10 finish” – which was the publicly stated target for season 2011-2012. Now you can argue till the cows come home over what system Pards should have deployed in what game, team selection etc, in fact – that’s what fans love to do. But there’s no getting away from the fact that the man has not only done it, not only achieved his twin targets but has actually exceeded his brief. Credit where it’s due, he has emerged as (at least) one of the top six managers in the Premier League this season on much reduced revenues and budgets in comparison with the people he competes with directly. (more…)
For the sake of poor fans says Llambias.Newcastle United’s Managing Director, Derek Llambias, has been speaking to David Conn for yesterday’s Guardian.
In the interview he spoke on how he has received so much abuse from Geordie ingrates that he doesn’t hear it any more, how Mike Ashley told him that he would have “a horrible job” in May 2008, just before he took over as managing director to oversee Ashley’s Sports Directification of the club, how the club spent all of the £35 million Andy Carroll money (although the club made a mighty profit of £36.731 million on player trading without amortisation in their last set of published accounts). Conn also wrote of many other things Llambias supposedly revealed to him in what is a rather fawning piece overall.
Irritatingly, for much of the “interview,” Conn give his own version of what Llambias told him, rather than just giving the quotes themselves in something which reads like a PR piece, something Llambias usually reserves for his friends at Mirror Group titles such as the Mirror, People, Chronicle and Journal. But I digress. (more…)
Hughton: It woz me!In a brief but revealing interview for the Independent on Saturday, Chris Hughton has decided to put the record on misinformation about his role at Newcastle United.
Speaking on his time at the club, he said (amongst other things) what some knew already, that it was actually he who brought Graham Carr, Hatem Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote into the club.
Whilst he was managing at the club, the now Birmingham City manager was dogged by rumours in the media that he a mere cipher at the club, that the team was run by a committee of senior players who actually picked the team, and that player aquisitions were out of his control after Hughton brought his old Tottenham collegue, Graham Carr, to the club as Chief Scout. The rumours about the players running team affairs were eventually refuted by Hughton himself, who described it as a “slippery slope,” and also by Kevin Nolan and other senior players. Now, Hughton has finally hit back at other misinformation about the recruitment of key signings, Hatem Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote, and also the recruitment of the club’s current Chief Scout, Graham Carr. After talking about the days following his sacking by Derek Llambias and Mike Ashley on the grounds they were looking for someone “with more managerial experience,” Hughton had the follwing to say, firstly on whether his sacking was “unjust,”:
“Was it unjust? Yes, and that’s how most people felt at the time.”
Who's the messiah?Newcastle United appear to have sorted themselves out after a long period of woe but are there are certain similarities between what Liverpool are going through now and what Newcastle have been through in the past?
Liverpool seemed in turmoil on Sunday. We beat them fairly comfortably, their goalkeeper was sent off and Andy Carroll looks like he’s heading for a bust-up with Kenny Dalglish after allegedly voicing his distaste at being substituted with a word rhyming with ‘luck’, of which they had little, followed by ‘off’, which Carroll certainly was.
But I feel just a little for Liverpool because they are currently ‘doing a Newcastle’. We’ve been in their situation in the not too distant past. They’ve brought back a ‘messiah’, spent a fortune on players not living up to their price tag, have an unsettled fan-base and they seem to be plagued by controversy, the Suarez incident being perhaps the most notable example.
Granted they haven’t imploded like we did and got themselves relegated yet, and they are one trophy to the good this season and in with a chance of the second. If truth be told, I think Liverpool will turn out to be a bit more resilient than us and will bounce back, although whether that’s under the leadership of King Kenny and with Andy Carroll leading the line remains to be seen. But it struck me that there are certain parallels between our past and what they’re going through though. (more…)
Carr (circled) in his Telford United heyday.Newcastle United chief scout, Graham “Fatty Man” Carr, the less than svelte father of Alan, has, of course, built something of a reputation amongst Magpies fans for his player spotting abilties.
Carr, a Northumbrian who was born in Corbridge like Steve Bruce, was brought into the club in February of 2010 by previous manager, Chris Hughton, renewing a working relationship they had at Tottenham, where Carr was brought in as a scout by Tottenham’s then Director of Football, David Pleat. Since then of course, his reputation has gone from strength to strength on Tyneside with the quality of players signed since he took control of Newcastle United’s scouting department. This interview for Talksport was conducted by Adrian Durham and ex Yorkshire and England cricket legend, Darren Gough, for the station’s “Drivetime” slot yesterday evening.
Below is a written transcription of the whole interview, well, minus a tiny “chatty” bit at the end about Alan Carr’s lack of football skills as a bairn.
Adrian Durham:“So describe exacly what your job is, Graham.”(more…)
